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“Preparing for life” and “Preparing for Death”

People in all walks of life
are preparing to make their own living, but how are we going to die? No one
thinks about this question. So I say nobody is preparing for death.”

All
young old friends and old young friends, if we don’t have great affinities,
then we must have small affinities in order to gather here today. No one can
deny this.

Why do I call you “young old friends”? I call you that
because you all seem to have great resolve, and you look mature and sensible.
Why did I call you “old young friends”? It’s because there are a few older
people here who look very lively yet mild, who are not scheming, jealous,
obstructive, or inclined to discriminate about people’s rights and wrongs.

A
group came from your school last year, but I don’t know if you are the same
group. There probably are some new people and some who have been here before,
so we can say you are both new friends and old friends.

Here
at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas our mission is to reform the atmosphere of
education. In this world, people in all walks of life are preparing to make
their own living, not preparing for their death. No one thinks at all about how
we are going to die in the future. Indeed, we are living, but how are we going
to die? No one thinks about this question. So I say nobody is “preparing for
death.” But at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, there are some people who are
preparing for their deaths, and others who are preparing for their deaths, and
others who are preparing for life here.

Ordinary people make their living by doing business, by
farming, by doing manual labor, by studying, by being government officials, and
so forth. People choose to follow a career in one of the five major types of
occupations – scholar, farmer, laborer, businessman and however, are making a
business out of their students – “If I establish a school, how much money will
I make from the students? I can make a living!” And they use any means possible
to make the school well known, turning it into a “top school.” But after
getting a “top school” rating, the school is demoralized. How does this happen?
It’s a very embarrassing situation to talk about. In many schools, people are
openly selling and using drugs. Isn’t this pathetic? Many illegal activities
occur openly on the campuses.

Seeing this situation, we at the City of Ten Thousand
Buddhas decided to establish schools: a primary school to teach students how to
be filial; a secondary school to teach students how to be loyal to their country;
and a university to teach students the principles of loyalty, filiality,
humaneness and righteousness. This means being filial to one’s parents, being
loyal to one’s country, and treating people humanely and righteously. These are
the principles of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Also, the primary school,
secondary school, and university at the City are tuition-free. I don’t want to
make money off the students; I don’t want to make a profit out of them. This is
the City’s educational style. At the City, all the students at the primary
school, secondary school and university, as well as all the left-home people
and laypeople, are expected to abide by the six great principles. The first
principle is no fighting: if I don’t fight with people, then people won’t fight
with me. And even if people do fight with me, I still won’t fight with them. If
we can be like this, then the disputes in this world will disappear. The second
is not to be greedy, not to be greedy for anything. The third is no seeking.
The fourth is not being selfish. The fifth is not pursuing self-benefit. And
the sixth is no lying. These are the six great principles that people at the
City must cultivate.

You are now visiting the City. I’m not advertising; rather
I’m introducing the principles of the City to you. I hope you young people will
be especially diligent in helping your country, so that the people of this
nation will attain happiness. I hope we can mutually encourage each other to do
this!